Good Week

Week #43

This was a very good week. We taught somebody twice, baptized him Saturday and confirmed him yesterday. He is a very humble man and definitely will be a leader in the church. 

It's getting more and more difficult to say something every week. Maybe some of you have noticed I'm not so verbal any more. There are three reasons for this. 

First, it's a lot harder to think/write/speak in English now. Everything feels clumsy in English. Portuguese is so natural. I think I agree with President Faust when he said that we can pray in any language, but the Lord responds in Portuguese. 

Second, it's difficult to think of things to say. Missionary work is wonderful, but the story is usually the same. We make contacts, people give the same excuses, people don't believe that a man can actually see God, e assim por diante. The people who are "golden" (eleitos in Portuguese) usually don't have crazy questions or doubts. They fulfill commitments, they recieve answers and get baptized. É assim. 

Third reason, with so many baptisms, we have to use our email time to send/create records to the mission office and email the Mission President. With slow internet and even slower computers, 1.5 hours is a really short amount of time. 

Short on time and short on thoughts for now, but I read something interesting last week about the Old Testament. Generally members of the church focus more on the New Testament and Book of Mormon. Remember that all scripture is worthy of study and the Old Testament has quite a bit to say. One of the things that the Institute manual I'm using to study right now (in Portuguese of course) says is that if we want to understand Jesus Christ better, we should study His actions and covenants before his mortal life. He did a lot before he was born. It was probably important.

Em fim, study. Study all the scriptures, ancient and modern. 

I'll see if I have any pictures to send. 

Tchau por enquanto.

Endure

Week #42

Endure is a wonderful word. It implies difficult things. It really is no surprise that enduring to the end is what earns salvation. The Lord said that the courageous and valiant would inherit the Kingdom of God. Not the rich, the educated or intelligent (there is a difference), the Bishop, the Deacon, the Elder. The valiant inherit the kingdom. 

The valiant make covenants. The valiant continue in their covenants. The valiant seek to better their relationship with God. The valiant do as Christ admonished the Apostles in Acts 1:8. The valiant receive the Holy Ghost and act as witnesses of Christ until the ends of the Earth. In fact, the book of Acts is really just an extensive record of this one act, to share the Gospel with every creature. This planet, our lives, our opportunities to work, learn, teach, sweat and weep are all to give us opportunity to live the Gospel. 

The teachings we learn at church each Sunday and in our homes every day are the purpose of this life. The Church is not something to help us in this life. The truth is that every good thing is to support the Gospel and every other thing is to distract us from our purpose. A wonderful filter has been provided for us. We all have the Light of Christ and every member of the church has the Gift the Holy Ghost. These two great tools will not lead us astray if we listen to them. 

Not any good stories this week. In fact it was really difficult. We lost a lot of investigators and the family that was closest to being baptized decided they didn't want any commitments. We're almost starting from square one again. This week should be interesting and this transfer will be an endurance race.

É isso por enquanto. 
 (That's it for now.)

Todo o mundo quer ser batizado!

 (The whole world wants to be baptized!)

Left to right: Ingrid, Brother Carlos Martins, Maria, Elder Vieira

Five people baptized, five people who baptized them. Everybody looks better in baptismal white.

Que Semana (What a Week)

Week #41

Que semana. Eu acho que eu vou mandar fotos só. Também, a maioria das fotos foram tiradas por outras pessoas. Eu ainda preciso de ajuntar todas. Tenham paciência comigo. Tá bom. Vamos continuar. 
(What a week. I think I'll send photos only. Also, most of the photos were taken by other people. I still need to gather all. Bear with me. Okay. Let's continue.) 

Tenho muitas fotos dos batismos também. Não vou mandar todas. Levaria muito tempo assim. 
(I have many pictures of the baptisms too. I will not send any. It would take too long.)

Ingrid and Maria (Sister and Mother of Jucélia) were baptized this week. 

Pictures to come. High quality makes things more difficult. I also have to share my photos with other missionaries. I won't be writing very much today.

My zone. Names left to right. Back: Elder Zatti, Elder Simpson, Elder Vieira, Elder Ryberg, Elder Koopman, Elder Lagos, Elder Gonçalves, Elder Thomazinho, myself.

Front: Elder Day, Sister Cardoso, Sister Gates, Sister Aravena, Sister Lourenço

 Elder Day (Today is his last day as a missionary) and myself.

Semana dos Milagres (Week of Miracles)

Week #40 

Suffice it to say this week should be recorded as guided by the Hand of the Lord. Deixa-me explicar.

Every mission has what is called a Standard of Excellence. This standard is established by the mission president as an ideal for every companionship. Basically, an area firing on all cylinders should meet this standard. The number of lessons taught, if we had a baptism, how many contacts, how many progressing investigators, everything. If our numbers at the end of the week are good enough, and it's hard to do (exhausting really), it's called Semana de Excelência (Week of Excellence). It means working hard all day, everyday of the week and a lot of help from members. It takes a lot of time.

Our goal this week was Semana de Excêlencia. We thought everything would be fine, but what happened? We lost one day to a Zone Conference and four hours of travel. We lost another afternoon traveling to another area (two hours away) so my companion could do an interview. We spent the night there and returned the next morning just in time for the Zone Leaders to arrive and do and exchange. I went to another area with a greenie  (a brand new missionary) for one part of the afternoon and came back to my area about 7 P.M. 

In short, we lost two-and-a-half days of our week and still had a baptism, two confirmations and uma Semana de Excelência. Milagres? Acho que sim.

Baptism is a very good word and a very good feeling. This week we baptized Jucélia. I think I've talked about her before, but she really is incredible. First, her mother and sister were not ready for baptism, but she decided to go ahead and be baptized herself. Second, while she and her mother were at church, her mother (who is diabetic) started to feel strange (turned out her blood sugar was high) and went home with the second counselor of the branch and his wife. Jucélia continued to worry, but stayed at church and was baptized. 

Now, her mother and sister have an example to follow (they liked the pictures of the baptism) and will be baptized this week. We also may have an opportunity to teach her brother who is in prison and rethinking some things. We still don't know if we can do that, but it should be interesting. I love this family. They even gave me socks for my birthday. 

It's also very possible that I won't get any pictures of Jucélia's baptism. All the photos are on Elder Vieira's camera and it's been doing some weird things lately. 

Other photos.

We spent the day with the ward mission leader and found some really cool places. 

The sandy place is all sand taken from some small lakes that's sold to be used in cement. The lakes are the absolute clearest thing I have every seen. Very clean water. I don't have a good picture of the water.

More pictures coming. 

That's what I've got this week. 

Elder Dickson

Pouco Tempo (little time)

Week #39 

The week of Carnaval. (Carnaval which almost contains the word carne, which means flesh. It all makes sense now.) I learned a couple things. First, nothing happens in Osório and all the people leave. All the stores close and the places that have computers too. Afternoon in the center of the city and there is nobody in the streets, nobody in the houses and no more than five cars parked on a street.

So, basically, we're cramming in email between a lesson and lunch. Only one short email this week. 

Baptism on my birthday didn't happen, but they will be baptized this Sunday. 

I have photos, but for lack of time, I'll send them next week. 

Lots of crazy people in the streets. It really is incredible how clueless people can be. I think the funniest thing is when we clap hands (yes, Mom, we clap hands at the gate and never knock doors. There are gates and fences around properties. To get the attention of the home owner they have to stand at the gate and clap) and a person and something like this happens.

Missionary: (. . .) may we explain with more detail?

Potential investigator: I'm sorry. I'm not part of this religion.

Missionary: Great. That's why we're here. May we talk?

Potential Investigator: But I'm not part of this religion.

Missionary: Exactly. If you were, we wouldn't be here.

Potential Investigator: (Annoyed) I'm not part of this religion.

Missionary: (Pause, wondering how a person could be so confused) Alright. Bye.

You may think I'm joking, but this happened yesterday. The Gospel makes a difference. Without the Spirit to guide us, even intelligent people can be unintelligent. I cannot count how many times we have taught somebody about authority and baptism, they agree, and when invited to be baptized say they already have been. No wonder we teach by principle and gaining a testimony. If we tried to teach by logic (and I have tried) even the well-versed and studious have poor responses. 

I think I understand why the promise is that as missionaries our words will not be confounded, not that our words will confound people. (D&C 100: 5-8) They're already confounded by their own philosophies. Our job is to help them understand. With great knowledge (and knowledge is power) comes great responsibility. 

Até mais

Elder Dickson

Batismo!

Week #38

Baptism is such a good word.

Baptism this week. Yesterday in fact. And what a crazy day it was. Setting up interviews, bringing people to church, my companion going to another area to prepare another baptism, Getting three baptisms from two cities to happen at the same lake (it's more of a huge puddle. Kind of like Utah Lake.) I slept well last night. 

Just a little bit about Brazil. Nobody listens to Brazilian music. Almost all the music you hear in stores or public places is American. Anyway, back to baptism.

Everybody looks good in white. 

Photo left to right: Elder Vieira, Elder Dickson, Maria Gorete, Amanda, Regina, Gabriel, Tamara, Elder Lagos, Elder Day, Jeferson (Branch Mission Leader)

I have seen several missionaries go home early. It is hard work. The scripture stories don't talk very much about the time Ammon spent guarding sheep, walking the hot sun, cleaning clothes and missing home. A lot of people think that, because missionary work is the Lord's work, He will do everything. It doesn't work that way. We are instruments in his hands. We are tools, but imagine how difficult it would be to build a house if your hammer decided it didn't want to be a hammer. 

We are called to labor. Think of the three places we hear the word labor. Working outside, giving birth, and missionary work. Labor means hard. Labor means hot sun. Labor means you are tired. Labor hurts. Sometimes it means you will bleed. Labor means we are stronger after. 

If we endure well, God will exalt us on high. That's the promise. Endure means things will be difficult.

I wasn't ready to labor. I am almost 20 years old and have spent almost 9 months on a mission and still don't feel like I've worked hard enough. Many are called but few are chosen. Many are called on a mission, but few fulfill their assignment. It is difficult and worth the labor. How great is our joy in bringing just one soul to repentence? Greater than all the labor of two years. 

The strength comes from the Lord. We cannot serve missions alone. The people who try don't succeed. If you want to serve a mission, seek strength from the Lord.

Time for my birthday wish. Please please please please remember that missionaries are called specifically to preach the gospel of Christ. We are not called to be home teachers, to retain members we've never met, or to meet every request of the Elders Quorum President. One of the things they said in the MTC is that we should not fulfill the responsibilities of members. Home teachers, we will not make visits for you. 

President Hinckley taught that three things are necessary if somebody is to remain firm in the Church. A friend, a calling, and nourishment of the good word of God. Missionaries cannot provide two of these three things. Members, please, welcome the new members. Be their friends. Allow them to have some part in the Kingdom.

That's what I've got this week. 

Tchau

Elder Dickson

P.S. My companion has only been a member for three years and is one of the best missionaries I know.

Life in the Trenches

Week #37

Last week I had something I wanted to talk about. Today I have no idea. How about what happened this week?

We've met a lot of wonderful people these last two weeks. People who accepted invitations to church and to read and pray. I do have a favorite family though.

I met this family a few weeks ago with Elder Lagos on a companion exchange. The entire family is women, so we've had to teach some lessons from the door, but we are almost certain that they will be baptized.

The first is Maria. She's about 55 and has very simple desires and a very simple understanding. She's also a stereotypical short, Latina grandmother. She loves to feed people and says things in the funniest ways.

Second, Ingrid. She's about 26, short, round, always happy and is just like her mother. They talk about the same things in the same way and understand the principle of faith more than anything else. They also call us padres.

Third, Jocelia. She's the miracle of the family. She's about 20, short, dark, attractive and intelligent. (One of the members in the branch is already thinking how she would look in a white dress.) She is also the one who understands why the Gospel needed to be restored. When we invited M--- to be baptized, she responded that she had already been baptized and didn't think she could be again. Before we could say anything, Jocelia, very loudly, " Mas Mãe, precisaser feito com autoridade." ( But Mother, it needs to be done with authority. )

The three want to be baptized and we marked a date for the first of March. One of my favorite days. What birthday present could be better than three baptisms? I'm excited.

I don't know what else there is to say this week. I spent a lot of time working in other areas this week, so I didn't do all that much in my own area. Good week though. Something that one of the missionaries in the Fort Collins mission said is that missionaries should be learning something every time they teach a lesson. We only have four lessons and we always teach the same one, but somehow we learn something. You can learn something too. Remember, seek ye learning.

It's getting colder! This is probably the best news. These last few weeks were horrible. I don't think we had a day below 35° and the humidity just made things worse. Most days were closer to 40°(for all you Americans, that's about 104°.) This week, it looks like rain and nothing above 30°. Que bênção. I might even use a jacket or long-sleeve shirt. We're even using blankets at night now. 

Now we just need hot water. Yeah, the water is the same temperature as the pipes and our shower head is broken. If you want hot water, you buy a shower head that heats up the water. Ours doesn't work anymore. The morning showers could stand improvement.

Here's a photo from our balcony yesterday morning. 

Love you all.

Elder Dickson